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FROM THE PASTOR'S STUDY

Topic: Jewish Feasts in History

Pain Without Answers is Hell

by Darrel Cline
(darrelcline biblical-thinking.org)

Christianity in its truest sense (there are all kinds of variations that have their own forms of apostasy and kinks) retains its friendship with logic, ethics, and history. We have already seen that its logic is impeccable, its ethic is the highest form of love known to exist, and we have broached the idea that its history began with prophecy. In the next few articles we want to expand that idea a bit.

People who really want answers to the pain in their lives are open to facts. People who only want to expand their contribution to the pain of others aren't interested in the facts. But, facts must be more than opinion, or theory. They must be verifiable claims that harmonize with logic, love, and history. So, we want to give you some facts--with a view to giving you some freedom.

The first fact is that in the month that God delivered Israel from Egypt, He set forth some novel ideas that ended up being brought together under what we know as Passover. One of the things He did was suddenly shift the Jews' calendar by six months (Exodus 12:2). This was a highly significant thing--and we will try to show you why in the articles to come.

Another thing He did was to set forth a series of activities which focused upon the slaying of a lamb, whose blood would be splattered upon the doorways of the homes of those eating it. This act formed the basis of a concept of salvation by the blood of an innocent victim. Since Jesus Christ was both identified as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) and "Christ, our Passover" (1 Corinthians 5:7), this is also a significant historical fact. It became the historical foundation for the first Feast of Israel (Passover) and the prophetic foundation for the identification of the Messiah to come (Christ).

Yet a third thing He did was to control the exact timing of the events so that they foreshadowed history some 1500 years beforehand. This is a demonstrable fact. It gives Christians who are aware of it significant stability in an unstable culture.

These are simply a few of the historical facts that underlie the foundations of Christianity. They are all demonstrable from the perspective of historical inquiry, and they prove the long standing friendship that Christianity has maintained with true history. But, their contribution is even greater in that they form a prophetic foreview that makes it impossible to remain logical and rational and still live apart from a daily relationship with Jesus, our Passover Lamb.

In other words, rejectors of Jesus Christ have often said He was out of His mind. But, the Scriptures tell us pointedly that those who reject Him are out of theirs. So, we have a choice. Are you living rationally? If not, how much pain is it going to take to get you to start really looking for true answers? Pain without answers is hell. Heaven begins with having your feet planted in the Truth.


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This is article #032.
If you wish, you may contact Darrel as darrelcline at this site.